Vinaigrettes, Reading...........

Before I forget, I concocted a very delicious and what I think is probably an unusual vinaigrette dressing last evening for our spinach salad. Our spinach salads consist of baby spinach, chopped celery, little chunks of apple, sliced strawberries and sometimes tomatoes, kiwi fruit and pecans. I've always made my own vinaigrette and have added various spices to it at times. Last night as I was tasting it I decided that it would be very tasty with some peanut butter in it........and it was. I didn't say anything about my new flavoring to Merle. Toward the end of the meal, he said "that's some pretty tasty dressing there". I smiled and told him the secret ingredient. Anyway, here's my dressing recipe. If you have your own vinaigrette recipe and lots of people do, just add some peanut butter to taste. I used crunchy peanut butter because that's what we had. Either crunchy or creamy, it makes the vinaigrette creamier.

PEANUTAGRETTE (my measurements are close estimates as I don't measure my ingredients)

1/2 cup canola oil (I don't recommend olive oil for this recipe)

4-5 T Balsamic Vinegar

1 or 2 packets of Splenda or sugar to taste

About 1 T Dijon mustard

Coarse black pepper to taste

Put these ingredients in a jar with a lid, shaking to combine or whisk them in a bowl. In a separate small bowl, put about 2T of peanut butter, pour some of the vinaigrette over it and stir it to liquefy the peanut butter. Add more vinaigrette until the peanut butter can be poured, then combine everything and mix or shake it well. Taste it and add more of anything until you get the flavor that suits you best. Chill it for at least 1/2 hour although I've use it sooner than that when I was in a hurry. Pour it over the salad just before serving and toss. Enjoy!

WHAT I'M READING NOW

Occasionally, I like to pick up an biography or an autobiography of someone. I've read about adventurers (my favorite) and certain celebrities that I've always wondered about. I'm finishing up a biography written by Lee Server about Robert Mitchum, an actor from around 1950 - 1980. Here's an obituary from CNN in 1997 that briefly tells about his life. The book, "Baby, I Don't Care" is a well written, gossipy book depicting a intelligent, poetic man who was also very crude, a womanizer, violent at times and a big time boozer. Before reading this book, I read one by the same author about Ava Gardner and it was very similar in that this sad, beautiful woman had the same crude behaviours, foul mouth, excessive drinking combined with violence and amazing promiscuity. If these books are only accurate by 50%, these two lives were a mess, despite the so-called Hollywood glamour and piles of money. Robert Mitchum seemed not to have as many demons as Ava Gardner, but I don't envy them their turbulent lives. Despite reading about the wrecked lives of these actors, I enjoyed both books with the inside stories on movies and other people in the business during that time...
On a more uplifting note, a friend gave me a CD of Michael Fox's book called "Lucky Man" and I started listening to it today. He wrote it, reads it and it is really good so far. At this point in the story he has been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and is coming to terms with that. I'm looking forward to hearing the rest of it. He actually states that if he had a chance to go back to the way he was before he was diagnosed, he wouldn't hesitate to say no - his life has been so much better since then. That's a pretty amazing statement and I'm looking forward to hearing how he came to feel that way.

I'm watching the skies right now because I had planned to head out to the bike path for a ride. However, the skies are pretty dark, so I had better wait a bit and see what happens.

In the next couple of days, I think I will be able to post a picture of my painting on easel. I've done some sketches and am starting to feel somewhat inspired, so I may actually do something here soon. Here are a couple of pieces of artwork I've done in the past before I started doing abstract paintings.
This was a greeting card I designed when I was doing some greeting card work. I sold a couple of card designs and then had a little falling out with the card company. It's a very competitive business and you can submit over and over to different companies and get your work rejected over and over also. I know that just to be talented is not sufficient, you have to be persistent. I've kind of decided that every once in a while I will try to get my work exhibited and see what happens. But, I don't think I'll let it become an obsession. It's always been my opinion anyway, that real honest to God artists are people who are completely absorbed in their craft and cannot not do it. I'm not that way although I love to create a nice drawing or paint a picture - I can put it aside and do other things for awhile, like blogging.

Here's another piece of artwork I created. It also is a greeting card I was asked to make for the card company. I don't know how it turned out in the finished product.I don't think it's going to rain, so I'm going to brave it to the bike path. I'm saving the marmot for tomorrow's post. It's a story that needs its own space.

The Kids, The Animals

By chance, when I posted the McGuckins Hardware link in my last post, I happened to glance at the store hours and found out that it would be closed at the time we were to meet our friends there. So, our plans changed last evening from going to Boulder to eating at a chain restaurant closer to home (expensive and fat/sugar/salt laden but tasty, of course).

We had a good time.

I just had a telephone call from our daughter, Audrey. She and her husband, Jonathan, live in Arkansas. They met on the Internet and that's how she ended up moving from Colorado to Arkansas. Here is a picture of them. Every time Audrey calls, there is usually some very exciting news and this time was no exception. They became the proud owners of a rat named Andy. They think, but are not sure, that Andy is a girl. This is the latest addition to the "animal house" that includes Starla (from the homeless shelter), Tina (a dog obtained from a cardboard box by the road) and Mr. Poopers (a 3 legged cat that was saved by Audrey from certain euthanasia). Apparently, there was another rat at one time, but Starla, who consorted with canine gangs and hung out with other assorted dubious characters while at the shelter, surreptitiously observed the mechanics involved in the rat cage operation, and whilst the owners were away, she opened the cage and dispensed with that rat. I've been assured that the cage has now been rendered doggie proof. Here's a picture of Andy the Rat.

Both Starla and Tina were named after characters in the movie Napoleon Dynamite, one of our very favorite movies. Yes, it's true, Merle and I are Napoleon fans. Here is a UTube link where you can watch Napoleon dance. It's a classic, really. Here's a picture of Starla, the only one I could find. She really is a very nice dog even though she chewed a rat. You Dirty Rat!

Audrey does a great impression of Napoleon. She has quite the knack for imitating and even creating characters. One of my favorites used to be her soulful rendition of the national anthem as sung by someone like Patti LaBelle or Aretha Franklin. It's too bad she never did get the chance to sing it officially at a peewee baseball game or a Star Trek convention.

Jonathan and Audrey will be visiting us in early November and I'm sure I will be able to fill the postings with all sorts of adventure stories after they are gone. In future posts, you will hear more about Audrey and I will be sure to post some of my favorite pictures taken of her over the years. I know she will be very pleased.

SPEAKING OF ANIMALS .......

Here is the praying mantis that came to dinner one evening some time back. We live on a hillside with all natural landscape, so our home is guest to various types of critters. We've had those bugs that look like a stick - just like the one in the movie "Bug's Life". We've had wasps, various kinds of beetles, butterflies, snakes (but not as many as we thought we would have here), frogs, giant moths like the one shown below, some 1/2" dark gray, segmented worms that get in the house, die and get hard, ants, raccoons, foxes, wild cats, pack rats and our very favorite - the skunks who lived under one deck for awhile and managed to wake us up many nights with their pungent perfume. So far this year, we have not had a problem, but that is probably because we had all of our decks replaced and it disrupted their home life. During the skunk spring and summer years we investigated all kinds of ways to try and rid ourselves of them. We live outside of the city limits and our neighbor apparently has shot a couple of them. Neither one of us is a sharp shooter or furry animal killer, so that was not an option. Another Internet suggestion was to trap the skunk in a specially made trapping cage ($$$) with food containing a sedative and then take the cage to a river and drown the skunk. We don't like skunks, but that was just about the meanest thing I ever heard to do to an animal. Plus, we figured we would end up trapping and sedating one of the neighborhood cats. I also read that if you spread moth balls around the property, it wards them off, but the thought of smelling moth balls was almost as bad as smelling skunks. We just waited and now it seems our patience has paid off. We won't have to "off" the skunks now.

That's about it for now. I spent a great deal of time trying to get the Starla poster into jpeg format that would download and ended up putting it in the scanner. However, I'm sure when I learn how to use the millions of Corel PHOTO-PAINT options in my new software, it will be much simpler (?)

Hummingbirds - The Jets that God Built

Note: This image was downloaded from Google images and I don't know who did it although I did research to try and find out so I could give them credit. Hopefully I'm not infringing on someone's copyright. Whoever drew it did a beautiful job!

Two weeks ago on a camping trip, as I was reaching into the backseat of my Jeep Wrangler to get something, I heard a strange noise, a humming and thumping noise. I was somewhat startled to discover a hummingbird in the front part of the car, bouncing against the windshield. It was bright green and it had flown into the back part of the open Wrangler where it was trapped although there was a lot of open space behind it. It looked pretty exhausted. I don’t know how long it had been in there. After each attempt at the windshield, it would lay with its wings spread open wide on the dashboard. I quickly opened the driver’s side door and it zoomed away in typical hummingbird style, appearing none the worse for the wear. I imagined it heading home to the family to relate what was probably a pretty terrifying experience.
We have enjoyed seeing hummingbirds in various locations. We carry a hummingbird feeder in our RV and occasionally use it to attract these amazing little birds. While staying in a cabin (pre RV days) around the Colorado Springs area, we encountered a lot of them. Sitting on the porch of the rustic old cabin with its feeder hanging down next to the bench, we were able to observe the hummingbirds very closely. They also observed us very closely by hovering in front of our faces before darting off again. It was very entertaining to watch them take turns muscling their way to the feeder, then chasing away the competition. I was able to take some very nice pictures that I will share with you here.

We have been noticing more hummingbirds around our neighborhood lately. Don't know why they are suddenly here, but we are glad that they are. It's time to break out the feeder. The last time we had hummingbirds here, we hung a feeder from our pine tree. After about a week, I looked at it and it had bloated ant bodies floating around in it. It was quite gross, so I'm a little hesitant to try again. This time I'll hang it from somewhere other than a tree.
Here and here are a couple of links about hummingbirds that are good.

SO FAR TODAY........

1. I put all of the patio furniture cushions back on the furniture (again). Threat of heavy rain last night prompted me to put them away. However, no rain.

2. Merle and I sat on our cushioned furniture under the pergola with our morning coffee for awhile. I got the laptop and searched for a camping spot for next weekend. Found one, Merle picked the campsite and I made a reservation.

3. Fixed whole wheat pancakes, applesauce on mine, sugary syrup on his, one egg each and some ham. Ate on the middle deck looking over the countryside. Here's the view from the middle deck.

4. Cleaned up. Merle packed up his RC planes to go flying at the airfield.

5. I slid into my biking pants, filled my water bottle, loaded up the bike and drove to the bike path for an invigorating ride. Came home, showered and here I am. I'm about to turn on the a/c as it is starting to feel a little muggy.

6. We have plans with friends to head over to Boulder to McGuckins Hardware and then dinner somewhere on the Pearl Street Mall. McGuckins is like our most favorite place to shop around. It's got EVERYTHING and we've tried to buy most of it, too. One of these posts I'll talk about Merle's RC planes. He is mighty proud of them and totally into making and flying them. Here is a picture of Merle with a jet he built.

Next: The Praying Mantis Who Came to Dinner

In the Grand Canyon.....Part 2

As mentioned at the end of the prior post, there was a major storm that came through last evening. This morning revealed the sight of this big old tree, located right outside of our subdivision, that did not survive the onslaught. I imagine there will be news of other damage when I finally get the newspaper for today.

IN THE GRAND CANYON - PART 2

Here are the answers to the teaser picture from the last post.

First, about the color...

The Little Colorado River enters the big Colorado River at about Mile 63.

This link has a lot of very good information about the Grand Canyon along with some great photographs. Here’s what it says about the Little Colorado River:
“When the Little Colorado River is not receiving water from the upper watersheds, the entire flow comes from Sipapu , a travertine spring (1). The Hopi Indians believe this is where man emerged from the earth after passing through a succession of worlds. The water is crystal clear, very alkali and warm (about 78F). The Little Colorado’s bright turquoise color is the result of bleaching of bottom sediments due to the river’s heavy mineral load.”
(1) Travertine (definition from Webster’s Revised Dictionary)
A white concretionary form of calcium carbonate, usually hard and semicrystalline. It is deposited from the water of springs or streams holding lime in solution.
Here’s another very interesting link about an exploration of the source of this river. (Bluewater Voyage in the Little Colorado River)

Secondly, about the guy wearing the life jacket.
The rafts dock at the mouth of the Little Colorado River and we all take a little hike to an area upstream. At this point, we are all shown how to wear our life jackets so we can body raft down the Little Colorado River. They look like really big, orange diapers – very ridiculous. In fact, I think I declined to wear one. Anyway, everyone gets in the water which happens to feel wonderful when you haven’t showered for awhile. You sit down in the water holding onto the person in front of you, then you start floating downstream, gathering speed until you whoosh down a sort of chute into a pool like area. After that you do it over and over, usually by yourself. I did it a couple of times, but not being a real swimmer type of person, I got that very alkali water in my nose and eyes and decided to watch other people and take movies. Here's a picture of Merle scootin' the chute.

Here’s a picture of Merle and I in the Little Colorado River. We all hung around there for a couple of hours and then boarded our rafts and headed downstream to our next destination.

So, the guy in the picture, who by the way, was a total character, was modeling the “diaper” for us. At the end of the raft trip, as we were being airlifted by helicopter out of the canyon, he mooned us all. Yeah, he was a real class act……………..

The Colorado River in the Grand Canyon is 277 miles long and we raft about 188 of those. The total number of rapids is 160 and we do a lot of them although I'm not sure how many. Of course, there are different levels of rapid fierceness, they are rated for difficulty. Your chance of capsize in the pontoon rafts is minimal. Smaller rafts and boats are more risky, of course. The really big rapids can toss those huge pontoon rafts around, so they would obviously treat a smaller craft with less compassion. Rafting purists, of course, disdain the pontoon rafts. I can understand how they would feel that way, but it's the way that we think works best for us if we want to be in the canyon on the water. Neither one of us wants to be that risky. In addition, the small craft trips are a lot more expensive and require more vacation time since they move slower.
Other activities during the week include hiking to archaeological sites, waterfalls, up steep canyon paths and into slot canyons. There are dangers involved where a misplaced step could land you several hundred feet at the bottom of something. I'm not a fan of dying at this point and when we would have to navigate a particularly scary place, I would sit down and crab crawl gingerly to a safer point where I could stand up. I'm not ashamed to be look silly in order to stay alive.
We took our movie camera with us and got some great footage. We had to wrap it in a plastic bag and be very careful not to drop it. There were times, when we filmed right up to the point that we were going to go into a big rapid. You are supposed to be sitting down at this point and anchoring yourself by holding onto the supplied ropes, yet we managed to get a couple of good shots and still save the camera and ourselves from getting washed overboard. The huge waves that sometimes crash over you, try to suck you into the river as they recede. You have to hang on for dear life. If you do not want to "enjoy" this aspect of the rapids, then all you have to do is sit back farther on the raft and you get some splashing, but not a drenching. It's hard to get those dryer seats sometimes. Generally, whoever starts sitting there at the beginning of the trip are pretty reluctant to relinquish their seats during the week. So, since Merle and I started out in the front, that's kind of where we ended up spending most of our time.

The rafting company we go with is Diamond River Adventures. We will be making our reservations for 2008 in the next month or so.

One last pic. Here's Merle getting his toenails painted. Yeah, you get a whole new perspective on the river. It might have something to do with that large, empty bottle of booze sitting in the background....

Coming up: Hummingbirds, Praying Mantis and a Marmot

In the Grand Canoyn.............

We are planning on going on a pontoon raft trip down the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon in spring of next year (2008). This will be our 3rd trip. Once we got "hooked" on the Grand Canyon experience, we were really hooked. Reservations must be made many months in advance as these are very popular trips.

The pictures you will see will be from either our trip in 2004, like the one above or our trip in 2000. This was one of the more memorable evening campsites, although all of them were very unique and scenic. The rafting company supplies the tents, sleeping bags and sleeping mats. They also prepare all of your meals and the food is great. Each time we have gone, they've had someone who is celebrating a birthday during the 7 days on the river and they make a birthday cake in a dutch oven. If you want beer, wine or other intoxicants, you buy it beforehand and they stow it in the bottom of one of the two pontoon rafts. Each raft has blocks of ice in the bottom of them to keep the perishable foods intact during the week. Here is a picture at Lee's Ferry where the trip starts and another of us all on one the rafts.

We had approximately 20 raftmates (new word) on each of our trips split up between the two rafts. There are also 4 crew members who steer the rafts, make the wonderful meals, lead side hikes and do lots of other work to make it a very pleasant time on the river. You take your chances on raftmate compatibility since you really don't know anyone (unless you travel with friends or family), but so far we haven't run into anyone that we couldn't get along with. Everyone has to be fit enough to set-up their tent and take it down and every morning we must all line up to help load the rafts with equipment. Likewise, in the evenings, we all form a line and pass the equipment handed down from the rafts.

You pee in the river (downstream) and you bathe in the river (upstream). You do #2 in what is called the "Oscar". Here's an outdoors Oscar. It is usually facing the river, so you can be sitting on it and waving to a rafting group going by. When there isn't a suitable spot for privacy, the Oscar is placed in a little tent. Everything has to go into the boat and off the river at the end of the trip, so all that poop is on the boat with us for the duration. However, you don't even know it's there - wherever "there" is on the raft (somewhere in the "bowels of the barge" - good one....) If you are unfortunate enough to have to go while on the raft, they do not pull over for you. You have to go to the back of the raft behind the motor and the crew member steering the boat and hang your fanny over an opening back there. I never had to do this, but several people did it and I did not envy them their precarious position and potential for exposure. Everyone politely averts their eyes from the ass at the aft of the raft.....(I'm on a roll here...).

Hand washing lessons are given on the first day and are strictly adhered to by all. It is very important that no germs are spread and so a very clever and sanitary hand washing system is setup first thing at each stop, even at lunch. In the picture here you can see the buckets in the right hand corner of the frame. This particular picture was taken during one of our lunch periods.

We have gone in late May and plan to do the same again. The weather is not as hot, the crew has just started and has not had time yet to get sick of the tourists, plus if you want to go when there will be no children, it's the best time. (Not that we don't like kids, but we're past the kids thing and want adult only vacations.) It can be extremely hot in the canyon later on. As it is, we have to slather ourselves with suntan lotion and wear hats. On a cloudy day, it can be cool. Speaking of cool, there are lots of rapids and you get splashed a great deal depending upon your location on the raft. We always managed to sit up front and get the brunt of it. The front section of the raft is appropriately called "the bathtub". No matter that you might wear your rain gear, the huge waves that sweep over you just go right down the neck. It's not possible to keep dry in the front of the raft and actually it's the most fun place to be - at least for awhile. By the end of the trip, everyone is trying to scootch toward the back in order to avoid getting soaked. The water is fairly cold as it is released from a depth of about 200 feet at Glen Canyon Dam upstream. It's about 47F at that point. Apparently, later in the summer, the water can reach a temperature of around 80F, but in late May, the time we like to go, it's still quite cold. More about rapids and other interesting Grand Canyon rafting facts are upcoming in another post. Here's a teaser picture. Why is that water aqua blue and why is that guy wearing his life vest like that? Stick around and you will find out.

I just had to add this note: We just had a humongous, torrential rainstorm just a few minutes ago. Lightening, thunder and so much rain you could not see more than 20 feet in front of the house. It is still raining, but nothing like before. When it rains really hard, we get a very cool waterfall out by our deck. Here's a picture of it. It was even bigger at one point and actually roaring (like Niagara Falls!) Branches, piles of pine needles and old leaves were washing down it. FYI: The object in the right of the picture is part of a ratchet thing that holds a sun sail on our deck.